Expanding the World of Diablo

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How does DC's new series tie to the Diablo franchise?

By Jesse Schedeen

Late last year, DC debuted a Diablo mini-series that aimed to flesh out the world of Sanctuary and also take advantage of the impending release of Diablo III. The bad news is that Diablo III is still a ways off. The good news is that the first issue of this Diablo comic was surprisingly enjoyable, which certainly can't be said for all game adaptations.

We decided to have a chat with writer Aaron Williams to find out more about the genesis of the comic, how it ties into the greater Diablo mythology, and how Williams is managing to succeed where so many others have failed.

IGN Comics: What led you to take on this assignment? Are you a big fan of the games?

Aaron Williams: I have to thank former DC/WildStorm editor Scott Peterson for giving me the opportunity to try my hand at it. We'd worked together before on another comic called North 40, and he'd read some of my indie work on a comic called Nodwick, which is a fantasy spoof. And I'm definitely a fan of the Diablo franchise. Had I known how much my index finger was going to be needed for mousing around in the game, I would have stuck with piano lessons for a few more years.

IGN: Video game adaptations have a reputation for being unenjoyable reading experiences. How did you set about making sure that Diablo didn't follow this trend?

Williams: I think the key is trying to make characters have more than one dimension. Video game fiction is, I think, getting a lot of what happened to fantasy fiction soon after Dungeons & Dragons became a vehicle for coming up with fantasy plots. You had "the wizard guy," "the sword guy," "the thief guy" and so on, without giving much thought to why they were something other than their job or function.

I guess the best model I can think of is Stephen King. His books have really well-made characters that get enough description and personality that even if the monster is completely un-scary to the reader, they'll probably care what happens to the protagonists because they've kind of gotten to know them and want to find out what their futures hold. The movies that were most often made took the other route, concentrating on the monster and making the characters as flat as cardboard signs reading "victim #1," "survivor #4," and so on.

IGN: How much freedom did you have as far as developing the story? Was it an intentional decision to distance the book from the characters and locales of the games?

Williams: I had quite a lot of freedom, so long as I didn't contradict or run into game content that Diablo III was going to establish. That is, I had to make sure my wizard character, Shanar, used the spells at her disposal in the game, especially in combat. I also had a scene that was going to take place at the Forgotten Tower, but that area is, shall we say, "spoken for" and we didn't want to either spoil it or have the player think, "but this comic says two people came here and trashed the place already. How come it's not a smoking crater?" This wasn't as restrictive as it sounds, really, as most of the story takes place in an unexplored area of the Dreadlands.

IGN: How do you see your hero Jacob comparing to the protagonists of the games? What sort of struggle does he face as the series continues to unfold?

Williams: He shares the "tragic loss" beginning that a lot of Diablo lore has for its heroes. His is a little more complicated, in that he wasn't exactly framed for a crime he didn't commit; he just doesn't have all the pieces to the puzzle, coupled with a large helping of guilt over his actions. That's a lot of the personal side to his journey, in a nutshell. Jacob has to decide what he deserves for what he's done, up to and including the harshest sentence a crime can carry. He's also not as "destined" as some other heroes have been when it comes to being the person who gets to wield the Awesome Magic Thing™. Partially to make him less safe from harm but also to open up possibilities on the gaming side of Diablo, Jacob is a good fit for the Sword of Justice, but he's not the only fit that sword could have.

IGN: What can you say about the mystical sword Jacob finds in the series? How does it fit into the Diablo mythology?

Williams: It was the sword that we saw at the end of Diablo II, right before the Worldstone and Arreat exploded, so the tie-in is very direct. Who was going to pick up the blade next seems pretty straightforward in our comic, but it's not completely clear who's in charge of where it goes and what happens if it's used. I recall a conversation when ironing out the details that the sword will have a major role in the future, though I'm not sure if that was planned for something in-game, in published form, or both.

IGN: The first issue focused heavily on flashbacks to Jacob's youth. Will this approach continue in upcoming issues?

Williams: In the second issue, there will be some more of his past, though much more recent events will be covered. This helps get Jacob's state of mind across, as well as showing some foreshadowing for the future. There are other flashbacks here and there, but the first issue's were the longest. Also, at least one of the upcoming trips down memory lane doesn't belong to Jacob, but he gets to see it play out in vivid detail.

IGN: Will this book tie in directly to any of the events in Diablo III? Will gamers see a connection between the two once the game is released early next year?

Williams: I'm told that there will be connections, as Diablo players (myself included) really dig having details, if not actual people and items, from the various stories make an appearance in the games. I'm looking forward to finding out how much gets in, myself!